Issue - meetings

An overview of the design principles for the new Dorset Council

A copy of the report ‘Building a Council for the 21^st Century – Design Principles for the new Dorset Council Operating Model’, which was considered by the Shadow Executive Committee on 21 August 2018, has been attached, to support the discussion on this item.  The relevant extract from the minutes of this meeting has also been attached for information.

In response to a request at a previous meeting, the Chief Executive (Designate) attended the meeting to provide an overview of the design principles for the new Dorset Council.  A copy of the report considered by the Shadow Executive Committee on 21 August 2018 with regard to ‘Building a Council for the 21^st Century – Design Principles for the new Dorset Council Operating Model’, was included within the agenda to support discussion on the item.

The Chief Executive (Designate) noted that work being undertaken was to create a Safe and Legal Council from day 1.  Transformation work was underway to design an operating model to set out how the new Council would operate.  The nine agreed design principles were being used in order to ensure the creation of a sustainable organisation.

The Chief Executive set out three key areas of focus for the new organisation:

·                Being a customer focussed organisation with the ability to plan big but act local

·                Being an effective and modern organisation – business like with a social purpose

·                Being an employer of choice – empowering staff and being a learning organisation

A question was raised as to how the design principles and key areas of focus would be monitored in terms of whether they were being achieved?  In response, the Chief Executive (Designate) noted that the design principles would provide a guide for creating the new structure.  The challenge would come when looking back to see whether things were being done differently.  Performance Indicators would be developed as a separate piece of work.  A transformation roadmap would be created for approval by the Shadow Executive Committee and this could also be brought to this committee around February/March 2019.

Members considered the issues arising and during discussion the following points were raised:

·                A comment was made that there was a need to see detail of the work that was being undertaken underneath each of the design principles

·                In response to a question, the Chief Executive (Designate) highlighted that transformation would be ongoing up to and beyond 1 April 2019

·                The transformation roadmap would include key milestones to be agreed by the new Council.  These could be considered by the committee when the report was presented

·                A question was raised with regard to the staffing hierarchy for the new Council and whether there would need to be consideration of the services required when considering the staffing required.  In response, the Chief Executive (Designate) noted that it was the intention to simplify the staff structure of the Council in order to remove the distance between the layers